


abed nadir, notorious thot

by orphan_account



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:48:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25561564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Troy realizes he's in love with Abed. Problem is, Abed could have like, anyone he wanted, so why would he be into Troy?
Relationships: Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Comments: 12
Kudos: 186





	abed nadir, notorious thot

**Author's Note:**

> semi based on real life feelings
> 
> alt title: the process of me remembering that 'thot' wasn't a word in 2011

The time was 9 P.M. on February 14th, 2011 when Troy Barnes realized he was in love with Abed Nadir.

It was at the Valentine’s Day dance, of course, after Mariah had rejected Abed for Troy. That moment, the moment when she said “I choose you, Troy” was bewildering to say the least. He couldn’t wrap his brain around the idea that she would pick him – _him_ – when Abed was standing just a few feet away, being perfect and smart and way better at everything than Troy was.

Once upon a time, back in Freshman year, Troy would have been bothered by how much better than him Abed was. But he had changed a lot since then, and come to realize that he really didn’t mind that Abed was so good at everything. It was like being best friends with a superhero.

Or, now, it was like being in love with a superhero. As he hugged Abed after rejecting Mariah, he felt the warm feeling settle in his chest. He was in love with Abed, who was also his best friend, who he got to talk to every day. He thought, for a second, of telling Abed right there how he felt, of laying everything out on the table. But the moment was a little too perfect and a little too quiet for all of that. So he just let it marinate. He could tell him later.

He and Abed met with the rest of the study group, sans Jeff, to enjoy the rest of the dance. Troy kept smiling at Abed, who smiled back at him each time, but he seemed distracted. Almost like he was looking for something.

Then, a few hours later, Troy found out what was up. Because Abed left the dance without Troy, but he didn’t leave the dance alone. Troy saw him slip out of the cafeteria arm-in-arm with a petite Asian girl in platform heels, smiling at her in an un-Abed way. It made Troy nauseous.

The time was 10:30 P.M. on February 14th, 2011 when Troy Barnes remembered the one major obstacle to being in love with Abed Nadir. Which was that Abed Nadir was a bit of a slut.

Pierce was nowhere to be found, so Troy hitched a ride home with Annie. He stared out the window as she drove, trying very hard not to think about anything and thinking about it anyway. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt so much if he just made himself not care.

“Did you know that Abed hooks up with a lot of girls?” He blurted out, failing completely at everything.

“What?” Annie slammed on the brakes a little too early, making her ancient car lurch to a halt. “Troy, what did you say? Did you say that Abed hooks up a lot?”

“I didn’t even know until after that whole thing with those mean girls.” Troy whined. “After the trampoline got destroyed, I was going to go over to Abed’s to watch a movie, but he told me he was having that bitchy girl over. And they hooked up like, three times after that.”

“He hooked up with _that_ bitch?” Annie gasped, before falling silent for a moment. “Huh. I guess I never thought about it before.” She paused again. “I mean – _Abed?_ Are you sure?”

“Lots of girls like him,” Troy mumbled. “Pretty sure he’s hooking up with someone right now.”

Annie looked over at him, seemingly noticing for the first time how miserable he was. “Troy – are you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be okay?” He choked out, his tear ducts immediately betraying him. “It’s not any of my business.”

“Troy,” Annie said softly. “Are you – do you have feelings for Abed?”

“No! Maybe. Yes. Definitely.” He sobbed. “But like – I’ve never even really had sex, right? Except like once, sort of. In high school. I’m not sure if it counts. And he’s like, out here with all these girls – and guys too, he told me. So like, he’s never gonna bother with me, right?”

Annie reached out and gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder. “You don’t really think Abed’s that shallow, do you? He’s not going to… reject you just because he gets with other people.” She sighed. “He likes you. I know that for a fact.”

Troy stopped crying for a second. “You know, telling me lies to encourage me will only hurt me in the long run.”

“I’m not telling lies! I mean it. He’s been clearly into you since like… Freshman year. And I mean, I can’t predict his behavior, I guess. I don’t know if he’s looking for a relationship, or whatever. But he cares about you. _Way_ more than that bitch Meghan, anyway.”

Troy wiped his eyes. “I hope so.” He sighed. “I _really_ hope so.”

When they got to Pierce’s mansion, Annie gave him a tight hug. “You’re going to be okay, Troy. I love you.”

* * *

About a month passed, and Troy just sat on his epiphany, too scared to do anything about it. It wasn’t that he thought Abed would be weird about it if he wasn’t interested. Abed was far too cool for that. But Troy could just envision it – Abed wouldn’t want Troy, not when he could have literally anyone on campus if he wanted, and Troy didn’t think he could live with that knowledge. It was much better to sit in the vague spot between hope and utter despair. It was comfortable here, if a little sad.

It was Abed’s birthday, when things finally came to a head. Troy had been so jealous, so angry at Jeff – he doubted it, since Jeff was almost certainly straight, but it did cross his mind that they might be, well, together. Or something like that. And that made him sadder and more upset than ever. Of course, if that were true, it would make sense – Jeff knew a lot that Troy didn’t, and would certainly know what he was doing. It would make sense if Abed wanted to hook up with him. In a simpler time, before Troy had realized that Abed was it and always would be, he too had been kind of, sort of attracted to Jeff. But that didn’t matter anymore.

At the end of the party, Abed invited Troy out for dinner the next night, at the same restaurant. Troy’s heart skipped a beat, but he said yes. Of course, he did.

The dinner was wonderful. Of course it was, because it was Abed. And Abed was so good, that it didn’t even matter for a moment that he would never, ever be interested in Troy, because he was still Abed and he was still Troy’s best friend, and everything was wonderful.

Troy was lost in these thoughts, when Abed waved a hand in front of his face. “Troy?”

Troy shook himself. “Oh. Sorry, buddy.”

“Are you okay? You seem off.” Abed waggled his eyebrows. “And that’s coming from me.”

Troy sighed under his breath. He looked at Abed, and his heart filled up with an emotion so strong he wasn’t sure he could hold it in. “I was just wondering. You get with a lot of people, right?”

Abed cocked his head and didn’t respond.

Troy tilted his chin down. “Like… _get_ get with them.”

“No, I got that. Yeah, I guess I do. Why?”

Troy flushed, wondering if he could bail out on this conversation now, even though it had just started. “So… you ever consider like, dating someone?”

Abed shrugged. “Sure, I don’t see why not. If I liked them. But I don’t think I’m gonna find anyone else I like like that.”

Troy’s heart stopped for a second. “What did you say?”

Abed wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Hmm?”

“Did you say anyone _else_? Who’s the one? The one for there to be an else in the first place?”

“That sentence was barely a coherent set of words.” Abed lifted his finger. “Um. No one. There’s no one. I misspoke.”

Troy’s heart was pounding, and his heart took over for his brain. Before his brain could get its brain-hands back on the steering wheel, Troy’s mouth opened. “I’m in love with you.”

Abed’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”

“Uh,” Troy’s face heated up even more, if that were possible. “I really like you. Like, you know, _like_ like you.”

“No, I get that.”

“Yeah, I know. I know. So like,” Troy fidgeted. “I know I’m like, almost a virgin, and you go to sex city like once a week at least and you’re probably not interested, so that’s okay if-”

“Sex city?” Abed’s mouth quirked up into a smile. “That’s not a phrase.”

“I made it up.” Troy was sweating now. “But I was saying it’s fine if you wanna keep being a man-slut, or whatever you call it. We can just be friends, I don’t want to get in the way of being your best friend, because really I like that more than anything, even if I kind of want to kiss you all-”

Before he could finish, Abed leaned over and pressed their mouths together, stopping Troy’s speech, thoughts, and general sense of self in general. Abed’s lips were soft and gentle, but Troy could tell right away what all those people he hooked up with kept coming back for. This was a man who knew what he was doing.

After a few seconds, Abed pulled away. “I don’t really care about any of that.” He said, in his typical monotone. “To be honest, I had no idea you weren’t straight. If I had known, I definitely would have asked you out a long time ago.” He shrugged, returning to his food. “So, do you want to be boyfriends?”

Troy laughed, but it came out as more of a dying-cat noise. A waiter a few tables away gave him a strange look. “That’s on the table?”

“If you want it to be. I do.”

“Then _yes_.” Troy breathed. “Absolutely. One-hundred percent.”

“Cool. Cool cool cool. We can call this our first date, then, just for the sake of efficiency.”

Troy at him. “I am so down for that, dude.” He bit his lip, gathering courage. Then, before he could chicken out, he leaned over and kissed Abed, just to even the score. Abed might be better at this than him, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to do his very best. He was going to be damned if he and Abed weren’t the best boyfriends of all time.


End file.
